The Delhi Daredevils looked a very settled side heading into the eleventh edition of the Indian Premier League. The franchise had a change at the top with Gautam Gambhir named as the skipper of the side. The team had a good mix of young and senior players and the fans expected a change of fortunes for the team this time around. With Gambhir’s experience and Ponting as the coach, the Daredevils were on par with other franchises.

However, things didn’t go as planned for the Daredevils. The team lost five games in six matches and were left languishing at the bottom of the table. Gambhir stepped down as captain and the young Shreyas Iyer was named as the replacement skipper. He had a big job on his hands as he had to lift a team that was going nowhere. In his first game as skipper, Iyer played one of the most sparkling innings of the IPL.

He smashed the KKR bowlers, particularly Shivam Mavi to all parts of the ground. Jonny Bairstow, wicketkeeper batsmen for England praised Iyer on twitter.

Sizzling knock

Bairstow tweeted:”#ShreyasIyer serious striking that! #DDvKKR” Iyer smashed 93 of just 40 balls to take DD’s score to 219. His innings included three fours and ten sixes. This was their best batting performance and it looks like the change at the top has worked for the side.

Colin Munro and Prithvi Shaw provided a good start to DD and the latter went on to score an impressive 50 which also made him the joint youngest player to score a fifty in the IPL. After Shaw departed, the Daredevils lost Pant for a golden duck. Just when it seemed that KKR were back in the game, Shreyas Iyer took over and played a captains knock.

The 23-year old smashed 29 runs off the last over bowled by Shivam Mavi that made it the most expensive over of the IPL 2018. Iyer has looked in good touch as he has scored three consecutive fifties and needs to continue his good form to achieve positive results for his franchise.